Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra

Kyiv set out to rival Constantinople, and Saint-Sophia Cathedral — raised in the 11th century after Prince Vladimir's baptism of 988 brought Christianity to the Rus — was the statement of that ambition. Its mosaics and frescoes survive from the era, while the cave monastery of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra later radiated Orthodox learning across Eastern Europe during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. UNESCO inscribed both ensembles in 1990.